Electrocoagulation of model wastewater using aluminum electrodes

Electrocoagulation makes an alternative method to chemical coagulation. This paper presents the results obtained during the electrocoagulation of the model wastewater using aluminum electrodes. The wastewater was treated by means of chronopotentiometric electrocoagulation process in a static system, at the constant current I = 0.3 A; therefore higher doses of electrocoagulant required longer electrocoagulation time. Changes in zeta potential, pH, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids and total phosphorus concentrations in the treated wastewater were determined. A new method for determining the optimal dosage of the aluminum electrocoagulant was proposed through application of the third degree polynomial function rather than the parabolic equation. An increase in the electrocoagulant dose raised the share of sweep flocculation in the studied treatment process, resulting in the effective removal over 90% of phosphorus compounds from the system.